Tejay van Garderen (BMC) crushed his GC rivals in today's uphill time trial in the USA Pro Challenge by winning the stage in what was a new record on the traditional and well-known course. The American was involved in a close battle with Andrew Talansky (Garmin) and beat his compatriot by just 4 seconds while all his GC rivals lost more than 1 minute to the race leader.

 

Tejay van Garderen has stamped his authority on the USA Pro Challenge by crushing all his main rivals in today's traditional uphill time trial in Vail. The American not only took the stage win, he opened up a massive 1.32 lead over teammate Mathias Frank on GC.

 

As race leader, the American was the final rider down the ramp at a time where Andrew Talansky held a comfortable lead on GC. Having lost the race lead on this stage two years ago, the young American was intent on making up for that disappointment on the difficult course.

 

At the intermediate check, it was already clear that van Garderen was in a league of his own when it came to the GC battle. He passed the line in a time that was a dominant 32 seconds faster than Talansky and made it clear that he had intentions of winning the stage.

 

The final part was the hard one where the roads got steeper and van Garderen had difficulty keeping up the speed. Talansky had been flying up the final part of the climb and so it ended up being much closer than one would have expected based on the intermediate time.

 

Van Garderen gave it his all to cross the line in a time that was 4 seconds faster than Talansky's and so he both took the stage win and defended his overall lead. He put a massive 1.02 into 3rd placed Tom Danielson (Garmin) who was the second best GC rider on the stage and now has a commanding 1.42 lead over his main rival.

 

Both van Garderen and Talansky clearly broke the old course record set by Levi Leipheimer two years ago.

 

Teammate Mathias Frank had a decent ride up the climb to finish 10th and so he managed to hold off Danielson by 12 seconds to make it a BMC 1-2 on top of the GC. Janier Acevedo (Jamis) who had started the day in 3rd position struggled in the individual discipline and could only manage 13th, dropping to 4th in the overall standings.

 

In general, it was another dominant showing by BMC who put no less than 3 riders in the top 5, Stephen Cummings and Lawrence Warbasse finishing 4th and 5th. Garmin was equally dominant with Talansky, Danielson, Lachland Morton and Christian Vande Velde all finishing in the top 10.

 

Tour de France champion Chris Froome was again proved that he is not nearly in the condition that delivered him a win in the world's biggest race. He finished 49th, 3.07 behind the dominant van Garderen.

 

Van Garderen has now almost locked up his first win in the race with just two flatter stages coming up. The first of those has a big, gradual climb at the midpoint but finishes with a long descent and some smaller hill towards the end. A sprint finish is expected but the lumpy nature of the finale may suit a surprise attack.

 

A crucial stage

The 16,1km was all uphill but divided into two parts with the first one being substantially easier than the second, steep section. The stage was the final crucial GC day and was expected to shape the final overall classification.

 

The first rider down the ramp was Martijn Verschoor (Novo Nordisk) who set a rather unspectacular time. Instead, it was the 6th rider on the course, Jason McCartney (Bissell), who set the day's early mark.

 

Siutsou lowers the mark

The American faced a long wait in the hot seat and could see Richie Porte cross the line in a time that was 45 seconds slower than his. At the same time he was, however, informed that Porte's teammate Kanstantsin Siutsou had set a dominant time at the intermediate check and the Belarussian kept the speed all the way to the finish, lowering the mark by 32 seconds.

 

Siutsou's time stood for a long time. Froome crossed the line in a provisional 3rd best time while Craig Lewis (Champion System) enjoyed some time in the provisional runner-up position. His time was bettered by Simon Geschke (Argos) and later by Christopher Juul-Jensen (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Fabio Duarte (Colombia) but no one was able to challenge the time set by Siutsou.

 

Talansky crushes the opposition

That all changed when Talansky started his race. The American lowered the mark at the intermediate check but it was his performance on the steepest part that really impressed. His final time was a massive 1.12 better than the one set by Siutsou.

 

Tobias Ludvisson (Argos) finished in a provisional 2nd place but his time was bettered by Cummings. American time trial champion Tom Zirbel (Optum) seemed to be on a good ride but the American specialist faded on the steep part.

 

Vande Velde fades

Defending champion Vande Velde got close to Talansky at the intermediate check but like many others, the American could not keep up the pace. Warbasse gauged his effort much better, finishing his race strongly to slot into 3rd.

 

Morton passed the intermediate check in a provisional 2nd while Danielson was just 1 second slower. Frank lost another 4 seconds but all times were crushed when van Garderen passed the check.

 

Morton and Frank both faded in the final part while Danielson increased his speed to cross the line in a provisional 2nd. At the time, it was, however, clear that his hopes of an overall win were dashed and that was only confirmed when van Garderen crossed the line. He not only solidified his GC lead, he also took the stage win and broke the course record.

 

Result:

1. Tejay Van Garderen 25.01

2. Andrew Talansky +0.04

3. Tom Danielson +1.02

4. Stephen Cummings +1.04

5. Lawrence Warbasse +1.12

6. Tobias Ludvigsson +1.16

7. Kanstantsin Siutsou

8. Lachlan Morton +1.17

9. Christian Vande Velde +1.24

10. Mathias Frank +1.26

 

General classification:

1. Tejay Van Garderen 16.10.00

2. Mathias Frank +1.30

3. Tom Danielson +1.42

4. Janier Acevedo +2.10

5. Lachlan Morton +2.34

6. Gregory Brenes +3.25

7. Lawson Craddock +3.42

8. George Bennett +3.58

9. Rory Sutherland +4.11

10. Philip Deignan +4.12